Vietnamese players walk onto the pitch before the match against Thailand. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Quyết

Anh Đức

The French have an expression for it: "reculer pour mieux sauter", to step back in order to jump further. Việt Nam took that step back on Tuesday night, September 29, in Bandung, Indonesia, and it hurt.

Sarach Yooyen's thunderous long-range strike beat Patrik Lê Giang after just ten minutes, Nguyễn Tài Lộc had an equaliser ruled out for offside and Thailand's second arrived in stoppage time as Việt Nam threw bodies forward. The 2-0 defeat at Si Jalak Harupat cost the Golden Star Warriors a place in the FIFA ASEAN Cup final and brought down the curtain on an unbeaten run stretching back to September 2024.

Let that number sink in before the disappointment does. Twenty-seven matches, 22 wins and five draws across friendlies, Asian Cup qualifiers and the ASEAN Championship. Two consecutive regional titles, the first time Việt Nam have ever successfully defended the crown. Thailand's previous Southeast Asian record of 21 matches, set three decades ago, comfortably surpassed. Fitting, perhaps, that it took the same opponent that began the streak to end it.

Coach Kim Sang-sik did not hide. He apologised to the fans, took full responsibility for his tactical choices, admitted the midfield had struggled in the first half and said he felt ashamed that his side could not find a goal. It was a dignified response, but on the shame, I respectfully disagree.

Việt Nam lost to a Thailand squad that Kim himself conceded was stronger than the one we beat in August, without the injured Nguyễn Xuân Son and after a summer with no break between seasons. There is no disgrace in that.

There is, however, information. And information is exactly what a long unbeaten run tends to hide.

Streaks have a way of papering over cracks. Every narrow win becomes proof of resilience; every flat performance is excused by the result. Bandung stripped that away. It confirmed what this column flagged before the tournament: the midfield looks thin whenever Nguyễn Hoàng Đức and Lê Phạm Thành Long are not both on the pitch, and the attack still leans heavily on Son. Without him, Việt Nam created chances but lacked the ruthlessness to take them. Those are not new problems. They are simply impossible to ignore now.

Losing also lifts a weight off their backs. A streak becomes its own burden, a number of players are asked about at every press conference and a record to protect rather than a team to build.

Kim can now experiment freely, hand minutes to new faces such as Williams Minh Hoàng and Ngô Đăng Khoa and test ideas without every draw being framed as the end of an era. The players responded quickly too, coming from behind to beat Pakistan 4-2 and earn a third-place play-off against Malaysia.

And the timing could hardly be kinder. Far better to learn these lessons in October, in a brand-new regional competition, than in January at the Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia, where the continent's heavyweights will not offer second chances. If this defeat sharpens preparations for that tournament, it will have earned its place in the story.

The streak is over, but the record stays in the books and nobody in Southeast Asia is likely to break it any time soon. Việt Nam have stepped back. Now comes the leap. — VNS